March 2013

03/28/2013

Daisy is now just under a week of being 7, she was desperate for a new bike, one with streamers on the handles and of course a seat or basket for Bounce Bounce to enjoy the fun with her. Freddie looked on, wishing for the day that he too could ride a bike. His big sis is just so cool. I just wish the weather would warm up a bit, I know we have been only gently touched by the wintry whiteness coming from the skies, I don't think I have ever experienced snow on the ground for more than a couple of days and can't imagine what it must be like to have it for as long as a lot of the country has had it now. Come on Spring, please, we don't want to hunt for Easter eggs in thermals.

Freddie has now formed a solid friendship with Petal the cat, Petal is a patient being, ever tolerant of Freddie's love and affection. He gets so excited when he hears the cat meow, he just can't make him out, what is this furry thing that crawls round the house on all fours just like him? Lovely, lovely Petal.

03/27/2013

I haven't had much time lately to bake or make but yesterday was slightly quieter so I finished my chest of drawers! Yay! I am loving it. I got cold feet on the whole 'in yer face' wallpaper, I attached a piece of it to them for a couple of days just to see if this really was such a good idea. And yes, I decided it was. I keep going back in the room to give it admiring looks. It is making my heart go boom titty boom. I continued with the christening 'to do' list and have nearly finished all the favours. And then I made biscotti for my Gran's birthday. This is no ordinary biscotti. It is yummy, it is easy, you can eat 5 or 6 pieces before your brain pulls itself together and tells you to stop, even Daisy likes it.

Please make some.

225g (8oz) plain flour, plus extra to dust

1tsp baking powder

175g (60z) caster sugar

2 medium eggs, beaten

75g (3oz) each whole hazelnuts and pistachios

75g (3oz) milk chocolate, chopped into small chunks

Preheat the oven to 180C (160c fan). Line a large baking sheet with parchment. Mix the flour, baking powder and sugar in a large bowl. Add the eggs, stir until clumps form, then bring together with your hands, kneading until smooth. Add the nuts and chocolate and knead until evenly distributed (the dough will be stiff and sticky).

On a lightly floured surface, divide the dough in half and roll into two 33cm sausage shapes. Put on the lined sheet, spacing them apart. Bake for 20-25 mins until lightly golden and has spread, then cool for 10 mins on a wire rack. Turn the oven down to 140c (120c fan).

Using a bread knife cut the rolls diagonally into 1cm thick slices. Lay flat on the baking tray and bake for 15 mins until dry and lightly golden (they will harden on cooling). Cool completely on a wire rack.

This makes enough for loads of biscotti! Enough to give as a gift and have some left for yourself. Perfect dunked in a cup of tea or coffee. I used Galaxy chocolate because I love it but any would do. Enjoy.

03/25/2013

Monday. Exhausted. How can that be? Isn't the weekend supposed to be a breather from a busy week? A chance to recoperate from hustle and bustle? It would be nice, but then I would probably get very bored. This weekend has been ballet show weekend, Saturday was the rehersal and yesterday 2 performances. Please note : I do not actually do the dancing, I am merely a ballet mum. One who sits and waits and applies make up to my precious girl in a way that makes her look like an American Pageant Queen. I do hair, tightly scraped back in a bun, not a pleasant experience for either Daisy or myself - I still have flashbacks of my ballet childhood and I won't lie to you, I still hold a slight grudge towards my mother for her roughness with the styling of the hair. A grudge I am surely passing down to my daughter as she will to hers. Then I spend the day in an obviously too small room for so many hyped up mini divas, trying to get my girl to sit still so as not to ruin her make up/hair/costume. Emotions are running high in this oh too small room, you get the chatty mums who can blank out the fact that their daughter is running around and around the clothing rail at top speed gathering small followers with every lap. You get the mums who take this whole thing far too seriously and come equipt with a make up BOX with enough supplies to do the faces of every cast member in a West End musical. When you are sat there for hours on end waiting for your daughter to be called you analyse. People watch. Criticise. Pick holes in the way others mother their children, during my thoughts my daughter has smeared red lipstick all over her knees. How? And now there is a black mark on the shoulder of her pretty ballet dress. During my people watching, chatting and fussing, Daisy and Alice found a new hiding place behind a curtain which is great fun and emerge to an empty room because the whole cast is on stage for the Finale. So, that was my weekend and as much as I moan about tiredness, boredness, numb bum and hunger I can't imagine how tired the girls must be at school today, I can't wait to get Daisy home, in her comfies, cuddled up doing nothing.

So I still haven't started my chest of drawers but I have instead done my vintage cupboard. I love this 1950s paper, it's just so pretty!

03/18/2013

Daisy May turns 7 this weekend, I can't believe my baby girl is growing up. And it seems more speedily than ever. Yes, she is still the smallest in her class by a long shot and yes, she still fits into clothes for a 4 year old but on the inside my little girl is becoming a big girl. With 3 brothers she is a little outnumbered in this house but it has brought a very special relationship between me and this girl. We just seem to 'get' each other. She knows exactly what will make me smile (mainly her smile which she wears even when she is asleep). She is the happiest, funniest, loveliest and most genuine being and I appreciate every moment I get to spend with her. At the weekend Daisy stayed with her cousin Alice and I woke to find this on Facebook from Auntie Kate :

Just overheard this conversation between 8yr old Alice & 7yr old Daisy whilst they watched Sleeping Beauty kiss her Prince: ALICE: Ewwwwww DAISY: It's not that gross. You'll have to do that when you get married. You do wanna get married don't you Alice?ALICE: Ewwwwww NO!DAISY: But if you want money, you have to get married.ALICE: No you don't. You can make it yourself.DAISY: It won't be enough. You'll have to get married.

Hahaha. Unsure who's the greater feminist in that chat...

I'm not quite sure what sort of lifestyle Daisy has in mind for her future, but it sounds like an expensive one.

Yesterday she had her birthday party at 'Once Upon A Party' in Eastleigh. A Spa Soiree for 22 girls. It involved pyjamas, nail painting, glitter tattoos, crafty stuff, some very competitive games (aren't girls loud?) and a lot of make up...

03/14/2013

There are so many things I want to do... Pinterest is just full of stuff that I want to do, need to do. Things to make, decorating ideas, clothing inspiration... I actually lose sleep with my head full of pretty pictures and trying to work out how/when/where I can fulfil these ideas. Brain ache. But occassionally one will stick in my mind as something within my capabilities. I bought this chest of drawers at the tip and it was a sorry looking thing in need of some love. I saw a picture of a similar one that had been covered in vintage wallpaper and knew that this was the destiny of my new purchase. It hasn't been a quick process, I bought this over a year ago, it lived in the garage for quite some time while I tried to convince Nath that this was a good idea. Then one day it got a lick of paint but went back to the garage while I decided which piece of furniture I could relocate so that my chest of drawers had the perfect place to show itself off. Then I had to find some wallpaper. The perfect 1960s, brightly coloured, in your face, floral wallpaper (this really didn't help with my arguement as to why we needed to have this in our dining room). I found some at a vintage fair that was just the ticket but I have only just got the courage to do this. I plan to do this today, whether I will I don't know. But that's the plan :) So if you are getting too much sleep, if you have too much time on your hands and a little bit of space in your brain for a few more dreams you really have to look at Pinterest. Within a week you should be nice and addicted. You will sit at the computer in a shady manner in case your partner comes in and sees you. "Are you on Pinterest again?" he will say. And you will feel like you have been caught looking at porn, "I don't understand why you look at this rubbish" he will say. And neither will you. But you'll be back.

03/13/2013

There has not been a lot of time lately for making cakes, making anything really or doing the little things that I badly want to get finished. It has been a pretty much wall to wall schedule of work, plans getting sorted for the summer, school shows and rehersals for said school shows. The weeks are going by very quickly, scarily quickly, Daisy will be 7 soon, Freddie will be Christened and turn 1, Ben will be 13!!! The Easter bunny will have been and gone, and this is all happening in the next few weeks. Phew! But we have been working hard, very hard. We both have the 'work' buzz back after the winter and I love it. It makes it all so much more fun and Freddie comes out with us everyday on our treasure hunts which is just so lovely. It's got to the point where he doesn't really like to spend an entire day at home like we are today, he has got the hump big time. He is currently up in bed awaiting the nap fairy to visit, I can only imagine she has been scared off by the noises coming from his bedroom. He is protesting. But I cannot give in. I cannot be beat by a baby who thinks he knows better. He does not. Mummy knows best and it is nap time. (In the time I have been typing this the noise has stopped which means I will turn into paranoid Mummy and go check on him which will inevitably wake him up.) Freddie, you win.

A couple of weeks ago Auntie Katie took this gang of girls away to the New Forest to stay in a caravan. Daisy has always longed to stay in a caravan, the adverts for Haven, Centreparcs and Butlins always have her begging and pleading for a old fashioned caravan holiday so she was just so excited. And from the pictures, they look like they all had so much fun. Girls just do though don't they? Having a sleepover, going to a disco, swimming, chatting a LOT, adventures in the woods... Oh to be a little girl again.

03/07/2013

We have a poorly baby again, Freddie has been fighting sleep all day long but is now so tired that he can't even keep his eyes open. Jacob brought the germs home with him at the weekend and slept from Friday night until Sunday pretty much but Fred will not give in. I cannot wait for Spring to get here and the coughs and colds to go back into hiding. So it's been quite hard to do anything the last couple of days, the plan was to have a major Spring clean. And I have started, in the 5 minutes here and there that baby was in bed trying to stay awake or not needing big mama hugs. I have got lots of stuff out, tidied up and rearranged, but it's going to have to wait until tomorrow to finish. I have also been trying to finish one of the decorations for Freddie's Christening which is fast approaching but for now it hangs in the dining room patiently waiting for its finishing touches

03/05/2013

A few pics of this weekends treasures, this week is mainly filled with drama - we watched Jacob's GCSE performance last night which was so funny! (It was supposed to be, I am not a mean mamma). He did a very good Rodney from Only Fools and Horses accent and played a not too bright robber. Daisy has also been at rehersals all weekend for her drama and ballet shows, poor little thing is going to be exhausted! Her drama club are perfoming at the Mayflower on Sunday, then her ballet show is in 2 weeks time... In other drama related news, Freddie has mastered the 'paddy' and we have watched several of these this week along with climbing onto the sofa to get that little bit closer to the breakable stuff. Clever lad.

03/04/2013

Last week we were in Southampton and decided to pop into Eds Diner for lunch. It's just so cool - a retro American diner, heaven! We had bacon cheese burgers and fries followed by a huge Kit Kat chocolate ice cream sundae to share. As you can tell, my diet is going very well. (Please note, Freddie did not have cheeseburger nor did he eat the whole of this sundae - he had a couple of mouthfuls which he found delightful.) Back to the diet, well, what can I say... I started the detox, first day fruit with only water to drink, second day was vegetables with water to drink and I stuck to it but I just didn't realise how hard this would be! By the afternoon of the second day I was feeling really ill, dizzy, hot and cold, absolutely exhausted. I just had to have a cup of tea with sugar (and a piece of cake). I know it sounds like I am a quitter but I really did feel awful and didn't take into account quite how much the human body relies on sugar and carbs to function - well mine does anyway. The first meal I had after that was amazing. I now have a new appreciation for food so I suppose those 2 days weren't completely wasted.